Local Reviews: Mark Dago

Mark Dago
Kill Screen
Earthburn Records
Street: 10.04
Mark Dago = Nintendo 64 + middle-aged Grieves
There is something to be said for brevity in the music world: What’s the point of an album that drags on just for the sake of stroking the band members’ egos? Dago impressively bundles everything he needs to in about 20 minutes with this sophomore project, in which he ties together electronic sounds from old school video games (“Little Mac’s Jogging Theme”, anyone?) and a unique stream of beats. With a bleepity-bloopity, nostalgic feel, nerds everywhere shall rejoice while listening to this inventive fellow’s songs that make you want to dust off that gaming system and whip out that joystick. The track ‘’Magic Kingdom” with Lauren Hoyt (of the up-and-coming local band Dani Lion) is especially worth geeking out on. The combination of Hoyt’s indie-folk voice with Dago’s hip hop flow is rather satisfying. I would skip the ‘’Intro’’ and ‘’Outro,’’ which feature nauseously cute children, and go straight for the catchy, crisp and amusing songs sandwiched between them. –Kia McGinnis